Space Grace

What is it that captivates the mind of our nation these days? Is it possible that something aside from sports or the latest “Hoarders” episode could draw the national attention to a single focal point in this age of over stimulated instantly accessible viral videos?
The unification of our country was once more than just a collective vote on the latest “American Idol.” There was a time when almost every eye looked skyward, and every neck craned to watch a chosen few go further than any other man or woman. There was a time when our astronauts were heroes.
The shuttle program, star of the national space transportation system, is coming to a dire close in February of 2011. The last flight of the shuttle Discovery is set for the end of this month. More than nine-thousand people who are a part of the shuttle program will loose their jobs, and a bright chapter in the history of innovation and spirit in this country will likely go with them.

The shuttle program was more than just a part of some government organization. In its heyday, the men and women who traveled that ultimate distance into space were like movie stars. We sought out their pictures and autographs with wide eyes and rapture in our faces. Sadly, the years have not been kind to the program. It suffered through an age where practicality and the bottom line over-ruled the wonder and desire for exploration the people of this country used to feel. The money to give the program the updates it needed never came, and it began an inevitable decay despite the best efforts of the people who loved it.
But there was another time I remember. In school we all had posters of the shuttle orbiter on the wall and knew the names of the astronauts currently circling the globe faster than any other thing on earth could ever possibly go. The math and physics of the missions could be studied, as well as the biological experiments and even the effect of space travel on the astronauts themselves. We were all space nuts, and dreamed of the lucky few who could afford to go to space camp and consume Tang® and dehydrated ice cream.

But something happened. It somehow became passé, this feat of American ingenuity and incredible science. Cape Kennedy and Cape Canaveral became far away places once more, and Major Nelson and Jeannie were replaced with other TV Shows. Florida’s association became one of alligators, beaches, hanging chads and citrus fruit.
We lost sight of the dream we once shared together, brought our eyes low and began to forget; a new generation was born without even knowing about the vision we all once shared.
Of course how could we continue a new breed of space nuts? The starting fees for entry into the Kennedy Space Center are at $43.41 per person (including minors over 11 years of age) and go up from there. What family could afford to show their children the wonders of the Space Center? Our country does a wonderful job of making the National museums in D.C. free to all citizens, yet somehow funding for this amazing center cannot be made even affordable for the average family. Is it any wonder we all lost connection to the dream?
The space program will most likely descend into the private sector. Perhaps that’s not all bad. In the long run we will probably achieve more, and get into space quicker and in greater number. However, we will miss the unity of a national space program. It was something that every American citizen could look skyward to the launches and think, “I had a hand in that,” You could watch the tax dollars and hard work applying itself spaceward in a vaunt of fire to further a noble dream of exploration, scientific discovery and maybe something more.
Without our national space program we will not be any weaker as a country, but we will have lost a part of our heart and imagination. So here’s to Enterprise, Discovery, Atlantis, and especially Challenger and Columbia; we will always remember you and your crews. Noble men and women of science, faith, and passion who did something incredible and were the brilliant heroes we desperately still need.

not by me

The creaking boards
Beneath my shoes talk back
As I dance upon them.
They shout they are in pain
From years of lying hinged against nails and beg
For mercy as I twirl and spin
You join in with my step and catch my hands and clasp my waist
Spin. Stomp, slap, hug,
Release

The circus of movement against
The old boards provides harmonizing
Notes of heels stomping and the boards
Receiving the blows
Although
They sound shattered, shoes still clatter against the straining floor.
Dane with me, dance with me, dance just once more

My love grows
Stronger with ever movement closer
As the colors fade
Around us
Time to end the charade. Good night, dear floorboards

And thanks again
For the wonderful complaining.

Got REAL Milk?

Milk still does a body good.
Though, like any food, there is such a thing as good milk and bad milk. Sadly, for some reason, consumers have taken this miracle drink for granted and allowed industry to take control of it.
I think it’s interesting that Katie Scarvey’s recent article failed utterly to ask one simple question: Why are our children and babies having these allergic reactions to milk?
The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network puts milk allergies on the rise from 2-3% to 6-8% of children in the US. Additionally, they quote a study done in 2007 that could mean that these allergies are lasting longer than previously expected. Out of 800 children in the study only 19% had outgrown it by age 4. Certainly in the moment of diagnosis food avoidance is the way to initially deal with these allergies. Though, as the dust settles, our minds should attack the question head on – why is our food making us sick?
Initially we blame the milk, human nature is not to ponder reflexively, and fear mongering certainly draws more attention to our news articles. What we should be doing is analyzing the changes in our human behavior and food preparation that have occurred over the past 50 years.
There is something wrong with bodies that do not produce enough “lactase,” which is the bodily enzyme that allows us to break down the “lactose” sugars found in milk. These are small intestine enzymes, which can be harmed or destroyed in any number of ways. There is also something beyond mere genetics that keeps our bodies from breaking down the whey and casein proteins. One thing that Scarvey failed to mention was that during the processing of milk, the casein peptides and micelle structure become disturbed or denatured to form simpler structures.
Whey proteins are used in a lot of the foods we eat. Wonder how Kashi now has as much protein as an egg? Special “K” with added protein? You can bet it came from milk. Yet, this overabundance of the processed protein in other areas of our diet might be what is at the root of these new intolerances for it in milk.
“Drink your milk.”
The phrase was probably coined in the latter half of the 1800s when milk consumption was on the rise as a replacement for breast milk. Though even at that time, there were some city “farms” who kept their cows on feeder lots in confinement and fed them leftover grain from breweries--which produced sick, toxic milk. Even with that, I don’t think our American ancestors could have possibly foreseen the problems with milk our children are having today.
Problems which once again can be traced to huge conglomerate feeder farms where the average lifespan for a cow is 3-4 years. Lifespan on a normal dairy farm? Closer to 15 years. What I find incredible is that we think we can take milk from sickly, over medicated, over milked animals and then wonder innocently why our children are getting sick.
Milk in it’s raw forms is made for digestion, is nutrient rich, and almost the perfect health food providing good fats, lymphocytes, and macrophages that our bodies need and, in our health poor society, crave. Every process that we put it through (see homogenized, pasteurized, ULTRA-pasteurized, skimmed, etc) only serves to drive it further and further from being actual food. These processes are not for our health but for the profitability of stores and mega-farms. The further you can ship it, and the longer it can stay on the shelf the more people you can sell it to. Raw milk has also been given to those people with “Milk Allergies” who, by and large, can consume it with no problems. How is that possible?!
Delicious, wonderful milk is not the problem. How many children have to be taken off milk, and peanuts, and eggs, and wheat before we realize that our food has got to change!
Maybe it should start with milk. Wouldn’t it be great to have milk from farms in our own area, rather than some faceless corporation farm in Texas? We are blessed to live in a farm rich area of North Carolina and it should be our glad privilege to consume the vast richness that our area provides for its community. The trade off is that the cost is greater – but I would rather put $10 in my neighbor’s pocket, than $5 in the pocket of some faceless stranger from hundreds of miles away. I would rather pay $20 for food that won’t make me sick, than $8 for food that gives my kids eczema, asthma and IBS.
Our farmers should be the most well paid profession in the country. Yet, it’s our doctors who are buying new boats (no to disrespect another noble profession). Wouldn’t it be incredible if our farmers had summer homes, and our medical profession was just barely making it? What if we were so healthy from eating wonderful, safe foods that we no longer needed to go to the doctor so often! What a world that would be.
If we refuse to do anything, if we continue to expect our food to be cheap and incredibly inaccurately inflated, we will continue to get sicker, more obese, and have more food sensitivities as a nation. It wont be too long before our children will be so allergic and sensitive to food there won’t be anything left for them to eat.